Reading these in preparation for teaching a class on popular fiction. J.F. Cooper’s novels about Natty Bumppo are considered to be Westerns in embryonic form. I’m hoping to cover Westerns, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Classic Detective, Hard-boiled Detective, Suspense Thrillers, and Romance, as well as discuss how popular fiction differs from literary fiction.

Architects of the Culture of Death (2004) by Donald de Marco and Benjamin Wiker

In his 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life), Pope John Paul II coined the terms “culture of death” and “culture of life.” Wiker and de Marco wrote fascinating biographies of people whose lives, writings, and activism shaped the framework upon which the culture of death is built.

The Joy of the Gospel (Evangelii Gaudium) an apostolic exhortation (2013) by Pope Francis

Many people — not just Catholics — are following this Pope with interest.